2007/01/29

Before I even get started, I need to interupt myself and this post to give a shout out and congrats to one Mr. Korte Yeo a.k.a. - Bertiewooster on poker.com.

Not that I ever advise anyone to avoid competition, but the way this guy has been running, first qualifying for the Aussie Millions via Poker.com, then becoming the first ever (one of only two) players to convert their satellite win into cash via poker.com... and at the Aussie Millions. He then fights off what had to be some serious f'ing jet lag, keeps pace just off the lead lap, and closes with a vengence to capture the Poker.com Winter Championships by the narrowest of margins. "Bertie got game" is the battle cry from here on out. Congrats to ya! For his efforts, poker.com is apparantly going to send him to a major tourney of his choosing. I'd not want to be entered in a tourney he's in, as he's been running down brothas left and right here, it seems.

Edit: This just in... In addition to taking down the Winter Championship at poker.com... on top of his Aussie Millions cashing. I've just been informed he's taken second place in the Mansion Poker 100K guaranteed for a sweet $15K pay. Dude's money, I'm tellin' ya.

Oh yea, I was planning to make a post, wasn't I? For those of you reading, there's only a few second pause... In actuallyity, I may have forgot that I was posting, in addition to interupting myself before I even begin...

Where was I...? Oh yes, if I were to guess, I was getting ready to talk about Oz. Tina was a doll (I could end that sentence right there), but I won't... Tina was a doll and put together a list of the people who went to the Aussie Millions with us. I'm looking forward to re-establishing and maintaining contact with many of the people going forward. In case you've not noticed, I can't speak high enough about many of the people I met through the Poker.com community.

And wow, how about some serious writer's block coming on here... On top of that, time for soccer. Well, I guess I'll continue tomorrow when I will actually write about something meaningful relating to Australia. If I were to guess, I'd probably be inclined to discuss the bubble of the millions.

2007/01/26

I had planned to maintain some sort of order for my Aussie memories postings. I'd like to skip ahead and talk about an individual I got to know a bit while in the land of Oz. I had what I consider the pleasure of meeting a young, up and coming poker player while in Australia named Jimmy Fricke. Jimmy had first been pointed out to me by Ryan Fisler, while we were in the Auckland, NZ airport. He mentioned something about Jimmy, PCA, Dave Williams and some sick hand. Later, at the Crown, Jerry had mentioned the same. Given the buzz surrounding this kid, I had to meet him.

First, anything I write here is my thoughts... and my thoughts alone. They don't reflect the thoughts or ideas, to the best of my knowledge, of anyone else. Second, unless I specifically quote someone, consider that I am paraphrasing from my memory. Do not, in any way, shape or form consider this particular work to be an interview, a gossip column, nor something that I've quoted. This is simply my thoughts being spoken here at my Poker Pub Poker Blog.

One may wonder why I feel the urge to fly disclaimers like this on my own blog...

A friend pointed me in the direction of a two plus two thread that forced me to change things up just a bit, with respect to the ordering of my posts. Now, historically speaking, I've read two plus two from time to time, but I've steered clear of posting there. While I hold no ill will or feelings towards any individual or group there, I'm just not comfortable with the community there and do not find myself a good fit at that particular venue.

Anyway... to paraphrase the issue at hand, 2 incidents took place during or shortly after the Aussie Millions:

1. "Gobboboy" or Jimmy ended up in a big hand with "Shaniac" (whom I also met while in Oz). Shane got his money in while best and Jimmy improved, sealing the deal on the suckout with all the money in the center. Shane went to the rail, and Jimmy had made a comment, something along the lines of "ship it."

2. Jimmy was informally interviewed by a friend on his friend's blog, where he was openly critical of specific opponent's play.

Above issues aside, which for the record, that 2+2 thread has seemingly resolved itself. It was asserted that Jimmy came off sounding like a douchebag, and very disrespectful and maybe even as if he was "better than everyone else."

From what I saw of Jimmy, his ego is very much in check. He presented himself as a courtious, polite, and fun loving guy. He was definitely not "full of himself." In fact, for the effect he had on the majority of the players he encoutered and the onlooking "railbirds," I'd say he was quite humble - truth be told.

Hell, I spoke to him after his big day 1 - specifically in regards to the table where he sat next to "the croc" and had busted Wille Tan and Jack Lee in one hand. We discussed the reaction of both the players and the rail. It really seemed as if not one person at that table liked his playing style, his ruthless and seemingly blind aggression. To me, it seemed as if he had tilted the entire tournament and even people looking on were wanting to hop the rail, buy in and bust him.

It was truly an amazing reaction, especially considering that one of the players, right before the break had belittled Jimmy for making what he considered a "bad call" and was talking mad shit on him. When he knocked Willie and Jack out at once, you could sense the frustration on everyone's face. Suddenly, he has chips; not that he hasn't been raising havoc on the table before, but now... Now the monster is awake and well fed. Not one person was happy, be it player or rail bird.

I ask Jimmy what he thought about that, after day 1 is behind, and he laughs it off, claiming that's not at all how it was. "Really, you think so?" he asked.

I told him there was not a doubt in my mind. I applauded his composure, noting that as a 19 year old kid, let alone any man, he held himself very very well during the whole time I observed his play. "Wow", "Holy shit", and "Absolutely amazing" were pretty much the only three phrases that came to mind that would do any justice to what I witnessed.

I asked him how long after he takes this tourney down is it going to take for him to write his book. He laughed me off, citing that he's "really not that good" and that he can name off several others there that are far more qualified than he is to write a book.

We joked about a quote that had been rumoured around the poker room to one of the pokernews people, where he had been quoted as saying he was going to win the tournament, from what he's has seen of the level of competition down here. We laughed together and made a few joking comments, and then he brought it home and said something along the lines of "no, seriously, there's a lot of good players left and still a long way to go." He also cited, "but I have been practicing for Australia. I like the outback, which is Australian" implying he feels comfortable in his "native environment."

Again, all the while; a fun loving, joking, yet humble tone.

I continued to follow Jimmy throughout the tournament. His second place finish was surely something special in my opinion. He seemed to really enjoy what he was doing, but not at the expense of others (from what I observed).

Jimmy and Scott (jester3) from the Aussie Millions

I strongly suspect I was not the only one who felt this way. It seemed that a few of the people on the rail who were at first jeering the kid were now 100% behind him, supporting him all the way. To some people, Scott and Lenora in particular, he came off very polite, well mannered, and as a great all-around guy!

After his second place finish, I bumped into one of Jimmy's friends at the after party. I was hoping Jimmy would be making an appearance. I had previously been willing to bet he'd show, even if for only ten to fifteen minutes. He in fact did. We went and found him, I shook his hand, gave him mad props and made sure he knew he had so much to be proud of. Then I asked for a picture with him. When I first went to Oz, I had said the only picture I wanted of me and any of the pros was with the Fossilman. Now Gobboboy joined those ranks.

I have the utmost respect for Jimmy Fricke as a player and a person. The sky's the limit, my friend. Keep on smilin, and keep on raising!

Mike

--- Said photo will be posted as soon as my data cable returns from Australia.

Edit: I was tired as hell when I posted that. I had a good bit more that I was wanting to add, but I couldn't keep the eyes open.

When I went into this game, I was fairly certain I was going to play "differently" than normal; well, differently than I normally play a CheckRayz game, at least. Although, it's not uncommon for me to drop the hammer with the 2-7 not suited.

That aside, it should be noted that I was caught playing hands such as 5d-3d, 8s-7s, and Ah-4d; and often to a raise. I was even inclined to raise with such hands. And truth be told, I'd sometimes call, other times reraise with these hands. If there was one thing I learned about tournament poker play while in the land of Oz, it was that aggression takes down pots. There were antes, they were sizable (last night at Bugsy's). For that reason alone, there was added incentive to raise pre and come out firing.

When the one player (I cannot recall who it was) raised over top of me to all-in, I had no choice, mathamatically speaking, but to call. I knew I'd be calling from behind and even said "shit, not what I wanted," but I had to call anyway.

Phillyd ended up taking down the tournament. He played very well... I think back to one critical mistake I made. On a raised board, I flop 2 pr K-Q-J. I bet out almost pot sized and he calls. My bet size was mostly random. I thought to myself I'd wanted to just end the hand and not really overcommit to it. I didn't want to see a ten or an ace on this board. Turn brings an ace, and philyd moves all-in. I thought and lay down my 2 pr. In retrospect, I should have put him on an ace (any ace) and made the call, but laid it down to a ten hitting the board.

Oh well, I failed to put him away, and thus I end up second. There's always tonight!

Speaking of tonight, I think I'll write more about Oz tonight, specifically I want to write about my thoughts on the second place finisher in the Aussie Millions - Jimmy Fricke.

2007/01/24

Our first full day in the land of Oz, and Jerry and I run around town to try to find some decent grub for breakfast. For those of you keeping score, Jerry was the winner of the Blogger Poker Tour Grand Finale. We finally find this restuarant to sit down and do breakfast. The food was great for the most part. The coffee, however, was really lacking.

I'm not sure what it is about the land of Oz, but it takes an act of God to get a real coffee around here. Now, let me explain what exactly I mean by "real coffee." I'm old school... I just want a regular, plain old black coffee. Nothing spectacular. No milk, no cream, no creme, and surely "I would not like any sugars." Just straight up classicly brewed black coffee. I believe there is only two people in the land of Oz who can make suitable coffee of this nature... Hannah from the Crown and the airlines, which is scary as all hell. Anyway, after breakfast, Jerry and I opt to head back to the casino, because we have this "feeling" that the poker.com festivities "might" be starting sooner than expected.

As if we're prophets, we get back to the hotel and we're T minus fifteen minutes and counting from the freeroll's start. Are we good or are we good? We straggle down to the poker room and find our spot. The crown had two tables for us, which worked out well considering we had 20 players with the poker.com crew. At the same time, freerolls from Prima, tilt, and other rooms were taking place.

We start off with 2K in chips, blinds elevating every ten minutes. We're off to a seemingly smooth start. Third hand in, a player is ousted from the tournament. I breath a sigh of relief, as the first one out is not your's truly. Then comes the big hand. I'm in the small blind with 9s-7s. Action folds to the button (Druce), who limps. I call, and the BB ("Dr." Scott) checks. The flop comes 2-9-6, with one spade on the board. I bet 1/2 the pot. The BB folds and the button min raises. Feeling as if this is a steal attempt, I reraise to all-in. He insta-calls and turns over AA.

I'm so not worried, however, as I know a suckout card is coming very soon... and by very soon, I mean on the turn, which I then hit my two pair. Aces fail to improve and I stack the man. Fortunately, he was the chip leader at the time, so he was able to weather the storm.

Shout out to Tina, "the Queen of Hearts," who was also playing in this tourney and a table away.

Play continues, and we consolidate to one table. I suspect I am first or second in chips. A successful hammer drop later, and blinds increase right at the same time there's a fourth dealer change. This time we get the most moronic dealer I've ever seen in my life. I'm not one to dealer bash, but this dude was BAD. By bad, I mean he sucked... horribly. He took it upon himself to fast forward the tourney three blind levels, and change the format to five minute levels. Did I mention I was coming into the big blind here?

My M now sitting at roughly 4 (as the chip leader, mind you), and this comfortable tourney has now turned into a bingo match. I'm truly not happy. The field begins to drop, part of which due to the blind structure, and the other part due to the dealer's gross inability to count chips. Of the seven times he was needed to count chips to make sidepots, he fell short of this seemingly basic goal six times. Hell, even the floor manager at one time was trying to help him and she failed to help this guy. Once, he tried to take all of my behind chips, even though I had the two all-in's covered, which for the record, the second of the two alleged all-ins were not fully all-in, but he took it upon himself to decide she in fact was.

We're down to five players, top three get paid. With the blinds so high now, that it becomes a game of foldsmanship. It's in everyone's best interest to try to fold their way into the money, as the chip leader's M is roughly 3. The move of the night comes when the chip leader moves all-in. The Big blind was all-in to begin with, due to blinding out. I sat under the gun and would have been all-in come the small blind. So, he folds, leaving his M under 1. Big blind is all-in, manages to double up. Next hand is a SB-BB battle, which I win. Bam, I hit the money. I blow out in a blaze of glory one hand later to cash in third place.

The tournament was a good time, though the dealer really tried to rain on our parade. The day continued on with Shane, Jerry and I taking a walk around town, chatting and looking for stuff to buy. Then we hit the poker.com drunken dinner, which is a whole 'nother story in itself.

2007/01/23

I am quite certain that everyone is waiting to hear all about how Australia was. Hell, I think even I am waiting to hear that. Truth be told, my head is still spinning from the trip, the time change, the flights and the airport sleeping due to being bumped around from flight to flight. Blah!

In any event, I fully plan to tell most of the tale of the trip. Some things, for various reasons, are best left unsaid... or perhaps told at a later date. Also, it would be quite simple for me to continue to bash those who ran the tournament at the casino. I won't be doing that, however, as it would be a waste of energy... and besides, I'd prefer to focus on the positive.

So, in no particular order, here are some of the things you can expect to hear about over the next few weeks:

(disclaimer: some of this may not make sense to you now... however, the important thing is that it makes sense to me right this moment, so that later i can pull my stories from the memory bank).

1. the poker.com freeroll,2. soundbytes from the rail,3. time spent with the Allens,4. Tina,5. the $500 tourney,6. Simon, Justine, Declan, Clark Kent, and the unauthorized biography of "that one pokerpro table"7. the Collins family,8. outfolding one another from across the room,9. more about the poker.com community,10. the plane ride to Oz,11. victory dinner,12. bowling,13. Jimmy Frickke,14. found in my notebook,15. "overheard in casual conversation"16. stories about some of the pros,17. negreanu heads up,18. the after party,19. the world is all relative,20. Gus

2007/01/20

Well, as the title suggests, I am stuck in Australia. My connecting flight was AFU, in that I wasn't allotted enough time to connect flights, so I am now stuck in Sydney, Australia --- not knowing anyone and on my own dime.

Hopefully this will be all sorted out soon. This has been a "challenging" week, needless to say.

While I really enjoyed myself and met a lot of great, special people; there's been so much that has happened in which words cannot describe --- this being one of them.

I'm hoping to get a flight out tomorrow back to the states, until that, stuck in Sydney, not knowing a soul I am.

2007/01/12

Sick event yesterday... The Aussie Millions 18 person 100K buyin. At one point, Lindgren, Ivey, Negreanu, Hansen, and Seidel were all at the same table. I do not officially start work until Sunday (tomorrow), but I managed to grab a few photos.

The balance of these pics are a pot between Eric Lindgren and Phil Ivey, where they collectively built a huge pot and Eric pushed all-in on the river. Gavin Smith was standing next to me sweating his boy Eric and talking smack to Tony G. Ivey spent a great deal of time pondering his action. He made what had to be a huge laydown, as he became the short stack, along with Tony G. Both of which busted out after the break, sending Lindgren, Seidel, and the unknown into the money.

Tomorrow I actually start work. Today, we have a Poker.com dinner and freeroll, getting to hang out with Liam, Shane, and "oh my god, she's more beautiful in person, which I didn't think was even possible" Tina. I'll dump photos from the festivities next post.

I've landed in Oz... I'm a bit on the exhausted side, many long flights, little sleep, etc. I'll dump photos tomorrow from the $100K tomorrow, as I was right up front on top of all the action. Until then, it's midnight... I'm needing sleep.

2007/01/09

It seems that Poker4ever is going through some changes as far as who my affiliate manager is there. Anyway, the tourneys on the calendar for us at poker4ever are going to be postponed. There's not enough time for me to submit my tourney request and also ensure the tourneys are set up correctly between now and Aussie. We'll just wait until I return to have the tournaments at poker4ever.

2007/01/08

To turn 21 again... I just love it when the googlebots or some random soul comes wandering into the Poker Pub via some off the wall search query that I had not necessarily intended or thought of... The search term was "thoughts on turning 21," which of course... I check my stats somewhat regularly, I had to go figure out where I was ranked and then re-read the story, because I just have to know these things...

G-Bomb mission aside, I am glad that someone stumbled upon that story, because it reminded me of a few things... Most importantly, it helped me put this upcoming Australia trip into perspective. No, I did not need to be refocused or adjusted on living up to my screenname either... And surely not motivated to properly carry on the tradition of the Beer Football Club, who does in fact have a championship game tonight, defending their crown vs the Coach's team tonight. A win makes us 5 time champions. Since the formation of Beer F.C., and taking the squad to the A-League, this will be our franchise's tenth indoor season. Of those ten seasons, we have captured the FFSP Indoor A League Championship of Soccer 4 times. Not including tonight, we've played in five championship matches. Tonight makes six championships in ten seasons. We have failed to make the playoffs twice. Two times we've been ousted in the opening round of the playoffs. Not too terribly bad, considering the level of competition.

OK, I've plugged my soccer team, though I've not updated the website there in ages... and yes, it's an eyesore. I've g-bombed my 21 post and my soccer site. So, now back to my original point...

*** I told you, mindless rambling...

The turning 21 post put Australia into perspective. In reading that blog entry, it called to mind, that I am not a writer, I'm a story-teller... By writer, I mean schooled, by the book, journalistic type of writer. I am much more effective providing first hand anecdotes from my personal point of view than I am playing the formal who, what, where, when, why, how "type of game."

Now granted, I typically get all of the information in what I am writing, it's just not formally structured as such and is typically far more animated than a more formal piece. My point is, my strength is my story telling... and I am glad I was reminded of that today... because I turn 21 every year.

I may not get another post in between now and the landing (as I set up to drop the hammer on an unsuspecting table on pokerstars --- had to fire the second in order to make that happen). For some reason, my claims that I'd be neither posting nor playing much have not really worked out... I think I've played more poker this weekend than I have in the last month or so combined.

1. I borrowed a laptop from my mother to take to Oz with me next week. On the laptop, I ran over here (to the Poker Pub Poker Blog). It never occured to me that pages look differently on different screens. I'm going to have to do something about that, as my inside sidebar seems to push down on the laptop, while it shows right on top on my screen. Anyone know how to make it appear the same on all size monitors (Mitch, lil bro?)?

3. Back to the laptop... it won't recognize the battery. I'm wondering if it will recognize if I pimp slap it...?

4. The Phil Hellmuth blow-up on that Late Night Poker show was not broadcast as advertised after SNL. They went to Stargate SG-1 and then that offbeat cinema show. I was hoping to watch it on the tele, however, Iggy has the entire incident, in three parts on his blog. It's hilarious.

5. I just caught a draw against this 44/8/2.78 douchebag. Shame on him for thinking I lay down easy - oops.

6. Building my bankroll IS part of the preperation phase of

7. Said Douchebag continues to call me with "any ace" --- and then king queen to my ace king... oops twice over?

8. I had a blast playing the 5th St. Charity Ball at poker.com yesterday. I don't think LadyLuck appreciated the hammer drop over her nines... I was in fact pot committed with the strongest hand in poker. In fact, the hammer paid me off three times, and I lost all of it in two quick hands... Guess I should just value fold til I get the hammer from here on out.

9. Speaking of the hammer, I am serious about getting a hammeresque tattoo. Anyone feel up to drawing something up?

While in between rounds at a triple shootout on Stars to the Sunday Millions (click, download... I order you... please?), I was going through, catching up on my blog reading when I clicked on their blog. I'm reading through all the names expected to be on hand at the Aussie Millions. Ivey, Negreanu, Jesus, Hansen, etc... when all of a sudden, MY NAME jumps out at me...

I was like "Wtf?" haha...

from the Poker.com blog"Poker.com's satellite winners are making their final arrangements to head down under to play in the main event, and the Blogger Poker Tour's Mike Pfister is getting ready to head on down to blog the Main Event for Poker.com & the Blogger Poker Tour."

Dr Pauly is already down there, and doing coverage on behalf of Pokernews. He and I have corresponded and I'm hoping to have a beer with the blogging legand. Rumour has it that he's got a $50 a day per diem bar tab while he's down there, which he negotiated in his contract. I do not have such a deal worked out for me (guess that's the difference between the rookie and the vet), however, for as much as the good doctor writes... and I in turn read, I can surely scrap together the change to buy him a cold one when he exceeds his $fitty.

When I was 18 and first moved away from home, joining the Navy, one of my plans was to get a tattoo of some sort. However, it seemed that getting a tat of some sort was entirely too fashionable a thing to do in the Nav... And as non-conforming as I was, I opted against inking myself. This of course, was before it was fashionable for every chic on the planet to have a tat on their back and ankle, and every douchebag to get barb wire around the guns (no offense to anyone who this may apply to in whole or in part now).

Anyway, I'll continue typing down here before I get my ass kicked myself in trouble. My plan then became to get a tat after I got out. Only, the problem was that I could not decide on what the hell to get a tattoo of... I am the most non-artsy person I know... If I attempt to draw something as simple as a stick figure... peeps will correctly ask "Dude, wtf is that?" Which makes the fact that my daughter is very talented when it comes to drawing absolutely amazing.

So, without anything jumping out at me, and lacking the ability to draw anything to save my life, I remained tattooless.

My goal for 2007 is to muster the courage to go get ink'd by end of the year. I now know exactly what tattoo I want. I'll give you a clue, it has to do with what year it is...

Staying in line with the BPT Forum posting on 2007 goals, I decided it would be appropriate to both think of mine and post them here. Mind you, I stated last week I'm not a fan of setting goals just because it's a new year. However, I won't overlook the importance of setting and stating goals.

I'll try to seperate these goals by catigory, and also I will link this post so that throughout the year, monthly... I can come back and assess my progress. I guess that's my first goal... monitor my progress.

Personal Life Goals

Those who know me in the real world know that I can be quite a... "difficult" person at times. Being a realist, I care not whether the glass is half empty or half full, I just want to know exactly how much beer is in the mug. I often criticize others because of either their overly optimistic viewpoints (usually the optimism comes without justification), or because of their extreme "sky is falling" mentallity. My goal is to be more understanding that this is, in many ways, human for people to do such things and to go easier on them.

Second, while I've been very good at expressing myself, I'm not always skilled at telling the people around me how much they mean to me. It's not that I don't care... however, I seemingly assume that my actions will reinforce how I know I feel and I often neglect to verbally communicate how important my peeps are to me. My goal is to ensure that my friends and family know that I care by communicating this to them.

I've mentioned before that I do not read very much, except for poker and things online (i.e. - blogs). I'd like to begin reading a bit for leisure, just a little bit though...

Finally, my goal is to get back into college this year. I know... "Dude, you're old and stuff!" Never too old to go back to school, after all, the beer guy remains 21 forever. My goal, upon returning from Oz, is to get back into school.

Family Goals

I do quite well here, I must say. Though there is always room for improvement. I've been blessed with a beautiful, well behaved, and healthy set of twins - as I often state. I do pretty well providing for them, emotionally and in terms of "things." My goal is to spend more "quality time" with them, appreciating what we have and enjoying each other's company. This can be either playing, learning, reading or whatever, but my goal is to earmark more time to them for us.

Poker Goals

Last year, my main goal was to be at the Aussie Millions. I leave Wednesday. This year, my big goal is WSOP, though this time I aspire to both play in and cover the event.

I view myself moreso as a grinder and less as a tourney player - though I enjoy tourney play and do relatively well when I play, taking them seriously. My goal is to take both tourney play and ring game play a bit more seriously this year. If I become bored, I am to walk away, take a break, or something. No longer will I play just for the sake of playing (i.e. - i'm bored but with no attention span, let's play).

Also, my goal is to "take more shots down field." More satellites to big tourneys... but only when I've earned my keep and my BR justifies this.

Regarding the BPT - my goal is specifically to do more than my share to continue to help the tour grow by spreading the word, sending out invites, and blogging away.

2007/01/04

It's gettin real close... Under 1 week until I am on the plane leaving Pittsburgh, stopping in LA and then straight to Melbourne for the Aussie Millions. There's seemingly so much to do and such little time to do it... I'm really not complaining though - not at all, as a matter of fact. I am very much looking forward to this opportunity of mine and plan to make the best of it.

Between now and then, I have lots to do... I expect that I'll be playing very little poker between now and Sunday, as I'll be spending quality time with the twins. We plan to watch some football and play our hearts out. This trip will mark the longest amount of time I've ever been away from them. The longest I've been apart from them prior is when they go to their mother's house (we have shared custody of the twins). So, this will be an experience - being away from them for over ten days.